Monthly Archives: February 2022

Illustration by Sarah Brady

Ishaan Nandwani, Opinions Editor

John Henrik Clarke. Bayard Rustin. Mamphela Ramphele.

Perhaps youve heard their names before; perhaps you havent. While they may not be ubiquitously known or actively discussed in Black history, these figures have been instrumental in efforts for equality and justice for Black people on a global scale.

Clarke spearheaded the movement to bring African Studies to American universities; Rustin, a gay Black man, planned the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Ramphele was critical in the fight for equality during the South African anti-apartheid movement.

This Black History Month, its important to celebrate not only the legacy of the Black American figures who have been revered throughout history for their instrumental efforts in fighting for civil rights Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois but also the unsung heroes who have revolutionized Black history both domestically and worldwide.

Additionally, we must expand African cultural studies at both the primary and professional school levels and consider cross-cultural influences, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the intricate Black narratives that have laid the foundation for our society today.

This semester at VCU, Im taking Afro-Latinx Cultures, a world studies topic course exploring the vivid African influence in Latin America. The course navigates one of many facets of Black history, but in a few short weeks, Ive learned about critical aspects of Black history that I hadnt learned before in my 15 years of school.

Insightful discussions about the Underground Railroads reach into Mexico and Vicente Guerrero the first Black president of Mexico, who freed all slaves in Mexico more than 30 years prior to President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation have greatly expanded my worldview.

I had always considered Lincoln as the primary pioneer in the abolition movement from a legislative perspective; however, I hadnt considered how far ahead Mexico was in comparison to the U.S. in this respect. It had a Black president almost two centuries before the U.S.; moreover, its anti-slavery work warrants critical discussion and cross-cultural comparison.

Yet our schools dont teach us that history. While Im certainly grateful for the advances weve made in expanding race-based education throughout my lifetime, including the introduction of African Studies as a primary area of study accessible at colleges and universities, more should be done to educate the general public on these important aspects of Black history that are not talked about enough.

Here at VCU, we can start by requiring an African Studies elective for all students. I suggest interweaving classes with a detailed discussion of Black history in Richmond in order for students to understand the rich and vibrant stories of the Black men and women who fought for their rights years ago on our own soil.

Additionally, classes need to teach Black history outside of the U.S., exploring how these influences have shaped our current perspective and understanding.

In order to cultivate a new generation of students with a global perspective, its essential for our education system to delve more deeply into the different facets of Black history.

Related

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Black history must be expanded in schools, global in scope The Commonwealth Times - The Commonwealth Times

Alphaeus Hunton, second from left in the foreground, along with Petitioners Julian Mayfield, Alice Windom, W.A. Jeanpierre, and Maya Angelou Make, deliver a petition to the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana, in 1963. | New York Public Library

In the past few years, Tony Pencinovsky has written or edited several books which serve to highlight the experiences of communists and the Communist Party. These include Let Them Tremble: Biographical Interventions Marking 100 Years of the Communist Party, USA (2019) and Faith in the Masses: Essays Celebrating 100 Years of the Communist Party, USA. (2020). His latest book, The Cancer of Colonialism: W. Alphaeus Hunton, Black Liberation, and the Daily Worker 1944-1946, recently released by International Publishers, continues this work.

Hunton, a prominent member of the Communist Party and a leading figure in the struggle for African American equality and against colonialism, was a well-known figure from the 1930s through the 1950s. However, the silencing of the history of African American communists, beginning with the McCarthy era, has left Huntons life unexamined by historians. Pecinovsky begins the process of correcting this erasure by re-introducing Hunton through his columns in the Daily Worker and placing his theoretical and political contributions within the context of a world on the verge of decolonization.

Pecinovskys book has three parts. First, an introduction, which provides a historical background to the political climate in which Hunton lived. Secondly, a brief biography of Hunton. And third, a selection of columns written by Hunton in the Daily Worker newspaper.

The introduction sets the historical framework within which Hunton operated. Drawing upon scholarly works on this era, Pecinovsky analyzes the historical development of colonialism throughout the world in the late 19th and early 20th century as well as the attendant rise of the anti-colonial movement. Focusing on the role of the Soviet Union and the activities of the Communist International, the author describes the links between the communist movement and the anti-colonial movement.

These links included material and educational support for the struggles against the imperialist powers. Many leaders, including African American activists, attended training schools in the Soviet Union where they studied methods of organization, propaganda, and theory. These included future leaders such as Jomo Kenyatta, William Patterson, and George Padmore. He also gives brief descriptions of anti-colonial and national liberation movements in Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Africa.

Having illustrated these connections between communists and national liberation movements, in the second portion of the book Pecinovsky provides a brief biography of Hunton. Hunton was a leader in the National Negro Congress and the Civil Rights Congress and later served as the educational director of the Council on African Affairs, founded in 1937 by W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and Max Yergan.

After World War II, Hunton began focusing on colonialism in Africa. For several years, he wrote a regular column in the Daily Worker, which often centered on the struggles to end colonialism and the possible pathways forward in building the economic structures of newly independent countries. These columns make up the heart of Pecinovskys book. They represent journalistic interventions in what Hunton would flesh out more fully in his book Decision in Africa (recently reissued by International Publishers).

The bulk of Huntons Daily Worker columns reprinted here cover the years between 1944 and 1946. Writing toward the end of World War II, Huntons analysis of the international situation was greatly influenced by the increased world legitimacy of the Soviet Union, as it had taken the brunt of the damageand had inflicted the greatest toll on Nazi Germany. Hunton wrote:

With their increasing knowledge of the Soviet Power, African leaders are more frequently citing the contrast between the failure of the European colonial administration, during a half century or longer, to provide any appreciable social advancement for the masses of Africans under their rule, and the remarkable success of the Soviet government in bringing social well-being and economic efficiency to millions of heterogeneous peoples who 25 years ago were in a state of colonial serfdom comparable of that to the most backward Africans (p. 186).

Hunton recognized that the end of the war was leading to increased demands for an end to colonialism. His outlook was that there was an alternative path of development for the colonial countrieswhich would later be referred to as the non-capitalist path of developmentand that the Soviet Union offered an historical example of the success of this path toward economic and social development.

In his columns, Hunton repeatedly emphasized the role of labor within the colonies and the dominant role workers could play in the transition from colonialism. He often pointed to the newly developed labor movements in Nigeria and South Africa as examples that could be followed by other colonies as they began their march toward independence.

In relation to South Africa, Hunton wrote:

Through their trade unions and their peoples organizations like the African National Congress, and supported by the Communist Party and a wide range of progressive elements among the Europeans, the Africans have pressed their demands for better working conditions and trade union recognition, for abolition of the pass laws, for better education (p. 215).

Huntons columns cover the anti-colonial movements throughout Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, as well as the internal politics of the colonial powers, with titles such as Greece and the Issue of Colonial Policy, Anglo-Ethiopian Relations In the Spotlight, and U.S. Foreign Policy and the Colonies.

Hunton was addressing these issues at a time when the colonial world was just beginning to search for new ways to development as nations. In an attempt to continue their grip on the colonial territories, many imperialist powers were seeking to invite their colonial possessions into some type of relationship with the mother country. Hunton made clear that the primary issue was one of self-determination.

In a 1945 column on Self-Determination and Colonial Policy, Hunton favorably quotes Stalin, noting that, The question of the right of nations freely to secede must not be confused with the question that a nation must necessarily secede at any given moment. A people has a right to secede, but it may or may not exercise that right, according to circumstances. Hunton concludes, This is what we mean by the principle of self-determination (p. 261).

Hunton was writing at a time when these issues were at the center of discussions throughout the world. Activists and scholars interested in the anti-colonial struggles of the mid-20th century would do well to study Huntons analyses. Pecinovsky has done a great service by bringing Huntons work to the public.

The Cancer of Colonialism: W. Alphaeus Hunton, Black Liberation, and the Daily Worker, 1944-1946

Edited by Tony Pecinovsky

International Publishers: New York, 2021

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Rescuing the lost history of anti-colonial fighter and Communist W. Alphaeus Hunton - People's World

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A map of Bayonne and Greenville, now a part of Jersey City, circa 1872 by Frederick W. Beers.

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James Fair, Jr. and his mother.

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Black in Bayonne cofounder Camille High helps lead the first-ever Juneteenth parade in Bayonne. Photos by Daniel Israel.

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A map of Bayonne and Greenville, now a part of Jersey City, circa 1872 by Frederick W. Beers.

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James Fair, Jr. and his mother.

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Black in Bayonne cofounder Camille High helps lead the first-ever Juneteenth parade in Bayonne. Photos by Daniel Israel.

As Bayonne transforms physically and culturally amid its redevelopment boom, it is important to always remember the citys history. The city at the southernmost tip of Hudson County was once home to a number of slaves. Public Information Officer Joe Ryan, also a historian with a wealth of local knowledge, confirmed this in an interview with the Bayonne Community News.

One of the first and most prominent slave-owning families in Bayonne prior to abolition was the Dutch family Van Buskirk.This was back in the time when Hudson County was still a part of Bergen County, known as Bergen Township. The slaves were forced to work on plantations that once dotted peninsula, with the practice recorded as early as the first settlements in 1655.

Bayonne had a lot of farmsinto the late 19th century, and there were still a couple of them into the early 20th century, Ryan said. There were farms all over on Constable Hook, uptown, downtown, midtown, by Newark Bay. Crops were grown and cattle was raised. There were slaves who worked on agricultural work, others who worked in homes, and others who worked harvesting shellfish.

According to Ryan, many slaves were forced to worked in the shellfish trade in the surrounding bodies of water.

We used to have people digging for other types of shellfish, Ryan said. There were some shallow, muddy waters around Bayonne, and there were a lot of clams. There was clam digging and oyster harvesting in New York Bay, specifically on the east side of the city. Both New York Bay and Newark Bay had some marine life, as well as the Kill Van Kull.

The uptown area was synonymous with the shellfish trade, with older generations having referred to residents of northern part of the city as clam diggers. The industry flourished thanks to slavery until the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

Abolition and industrialization

However, New Jersey was a hold out for slavery for some months after.

There were still slaves in New Jersey until 1866, Ryan said. New Jersey was the last northern state to ratify the 13th amendment ending slavery. There was a variety of continuations of slavery in New Jersey or semi-slavery well into the 1800s. The number of slaves gradually declined, but there were still 15 or 16 slaves in the state at the end of the Civil War. It took the 13th amendment to end that finally.

Even after being emancipated, many times former slaves would stay with their former slave-owners and take up their last name because they no longer knew their African last name.

They often stayed and were servants, Ryan said. One of my friends found a Van Buskirk listing in the 1870 Census, where there was a man living in the house and his occupation was listed as former slave. There were Van Buskirks that were white and Black.

According to Ryan, there are few if any remnants from the era still standing in Bayonne.During the post-Civil War era, entering the period of segregation and Jim Crow laws, the scars of slavery remained in Bayonne, but the former plantations were redeveloped amid the industrialization of the city at the turn of the century.

Bayonne used to be very small, just a few thousand people, Ryan said. Industrialization began in the 1870s. It was around 1877 that Standard Oil Company started its first operation in Bayonne. From the 1870s into the 1900s, Bayonne had become more and more industrialized with oil refining and various types of manufacturing replace the agricultural economy. What had been a city of farming and shellfish became a city of oil refineries and factories.

Black in Bayonne rises

While Bayonne industrialized, its plantations were slowly replaced and thus became part of its lost history of slavery. However, the scars of the practice were still prevalent in the city through blatant racism. Bayonne was once known by people of color as a sundown town where it wasnt safe for non-whites after the sun set.

Camille High, co-founder of Black in Bayonne along with Clarice High, Shaniqua Borders, and Rashad Callaway, told the BCN that Bayonnes history of slavery was not something initially known to her, but she believes it is part of its history that needs to be told. This is especially important considering February is Black History Month, during which Black in Bayonne has been highlighting the stories of people of color in the city.

Black in Bayonne and African-Americans celebrate their histories every day, High said. As an African-American, I am history. Every single day, I create history. I am my own historian, as well as the Black and Brown people here in Bayonne. We tell our stories, we tell our experiences, and we want to make sure that when we are sharing these Black experiences and Black stories, telling it from our own mouths. Thats the importance of Black History Month. Were not just telling the stories of the contributions of what Black people have done for society as a whole, but were also focusing on Bayonne.

High said there are many Bayonne residents stories who have gone untold, such as the lynching of James Fair Jr.while on a road trip in Georgia after being falsely accused of the murder of an eight-year-old.

If we dont tell these stories and share these experiences, our history will just become lost, High said. We want to make sure that were highlighting and were sharing the experiences of African-Americans within the city. We dont want a generation of lost information. So we are trying our best now to gather people within Bayonne and tell our stories.

Telling their stories

High said it is important to remember residents like Fair and others from Bayonnes past, like Dorothy Adams or other Bayonne residents with the NAACP that took part in the 1963 March on Washington.

We need to know our stories, High said. Our ancestors built spaces here, and they are a part of carving our history. We want to make sure those voices dont go unheard. So us creating safe spaces for Black or Brown people here in Bayonne is essential. We have to be comfortable telling our stories and our experiences.

According to High, its equally important that people of color who share their experiences in Bayonne are believed by those listening.

When Black stories are shared, theyre often policed, High said. People not believing you, telling you to prove information. But if were going to make diversity a staple here in Bayonne, than we need to be able to have uncomfortable conversations.

Part of having those uncomfortable conversations is knowing that allies of other races including white people will listen and believe people of color.

Allies, if youre wondering how you can support an underrepresented people is for you to listen to the stories of the people that youre hearing from, mostly from marginalized groups. Hear their stories, acknowledge them, and have uncomfortable conversations, High said. Be able to listen, not just speak up. Doing the work looks like showing up in a space that we cannot and having conversations of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Piecing together history

Having those conversations can work to better understand and work toward ending racism and other bigotry, according to High.

Bayonne is engulfed in racism, but know we understand why that threat is there and why were pulling the thread, High said. We are putting the pieces together. We are essentially rebuilding a neighborhood, reconstructing something that we didnt even know about. People that have been have just been here, unrepresented, quiet. The stories of Black and Brown people in Bayonne have been white washed and completely and utterly erased. But the white washed stories will not continue to erase the Black and Brown history of Bayonne.

Black in Bayonne, and other groups such as the Young Black Excellence Club at Bayonne High School, aim to carve out the spaces for both older and younger generations in the city.

Every grassroots organization needs younger people to move it forward, High said. Thats what were doing, carrying a torch and making sure that were handing it off and assisting those that will come up under us to show them how to activate their power. Thats why its very important for us to work with the Young Black Excellence Club and carry on the legacy of Carter Woodson. He created a foundation. What were doing is continuing to build the house, which the Bayonne NAACP before us and those that are unspoken have done before us. We always like to acknowledge those that work without the spotlight, who have done the work and then their history is lost. It is our hope that we find their stories and share them.

Part of that is recognizing the need to support Black people and businesses outside of Black History Month and all year long. As such, Black in Bayonne put together a Black Business Crawl for Black Friday in 2021, and has held another on Feb. 12 for Black History Month. For more information, visit Black in Bayonnes social media pages. The event is a new tradition for the community in Bayonne, and a sign of how far Bayonne has come from its roots of slavery and the work that is still to be done.

Being Black is multi-faceted, High said. It doesnt look like one person. It is essential for us to highlight who we are as a people, not only in the month February but throughout the year. Black history is everyday. Every Black and Brown person here in Bayonne is Black history. Were here, were not going anywhere, and were going to continue to share our stories.

For updates on this and other stories, check http://www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at disrael@hudsonreporter.com.

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Inside Bayonnes history of slavery and racism - The Hudson Reporter

PITTSFIELD The Berkshire County Historical Society will present a series of three virtual talks "Casting Their Own Light: Perspectives on Berkshires Black History," by historian Cynthia Farr Brown, Ph.D.

Brown's talks will draw from her research and reading on the history of Black, Indigenous and multiracial people of the Berkshires, mostly before the Civil War.

We are very excited to be hosting this lecture series by Dr. Brown, said Lesley Herberg, BCHS executive director in a release. Cindy is a well-known and respected historian, and we look forward to hearing her perspective on the Black experience in Berkshire County prior to the Civil War.

Brown is the president of the board of the Berkshire County Historical Society at Arrowhead. She also serves on the executive committee of the Berkshire County Education Task Force, and as an associate member of Pittsfields Community Development Board.

She has a doctorate in United States history and her scholarly publications have included co-editing the institutional history, "Lesley University: Celebrating Excellence 1909-2009" as well as other book chapters and articles. Her career has been in higher education as a faculty member and administrator. She is currently associate commissioner for Regulatory and Veterans Affairs at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

5 p.m., Feb. 23: Pittsfields First Black Neighborhoods: Thoughts on Black Community in 19th-century Pittsfield

In this first talk, Brown explores questions of where Black Pittsfield residents lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the kinds of communities they formed. By reconsidering both well-known resources, such as census records and deeds as well as more obscure records such as town road work lists, Brown asserts that there were at least two or three neighborhood groups of Black households in Pittsfield in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which coalesced as Black people left or escaped enslavement and started their lives as free people.

The existence of one such neighborhood in south central Pittsfield, parts of which persisted into the early 20th century, suggests contacts that may have shaped Herman Melvilles attitudes about and experiences with Black people during his youth.

In a virtual talk, historian Cynthia Farr Brown will shine light on several important but often overlooked Black women who were important in shaping the history of Berkshire County, such as Sarah Ann Lloyd Askins.

5 p.m., March 23: Women of Color in the Berkshires Before 1850

While Berkshires history often turns to the remarkable life of Elizabeth Mum Bet Freeman, there were other women of color in the Berkshires who helped shape and expanded our understanding of the Berkshires. Brown will introduce three of these important but often overlooked women: Polly Eldridge Williams (abt 1783 1861); Adeline Grant (1813 1895); and Sarah Lloyd Askins (1818 1906).

5 p.m., April 13: From the Slaves Cause to Civil Rights: Community and Liberty in the Berkshires before 1909

In the final talk in this series, Brown approaches the commonly-held progressive arc of Black history in Massachusetts enslavement, abolition of slavery under the Massachusetts constitution, leadership in the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the success of the 20th-century civil rights movement by suggesting that newer scholarship tells a more complex story. She will describe research-informed Berkshires scenarios that complicate the classic trajectory. Her talk considers what we can still discover about how individuals and communities shaped their own and our shared history.

The talks, presented over Zoom, are free. Contact melville@berkshirehistory.org to receive the Zoom link.

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Berkshire County Historical Society virtual talks to focus on the history of Black and Indigenous residents of the Berkshires - Berkshire Eagle

Photo: Sophia Paffenroth

Groups took to the steps of the State House on Monday, Feb. 14 to push for passing of the prison moratorium bill (H1905/S2030).

Free her was the resounding message of the broken hearts strung along the gate outside the State House this Valentines Day. Protestors had written the names of their incarcerated loved ones on the paper valentines.

Prison abolitionists, activists and students met in front of the government building on Monday, Feb. 14, at noon to campaign for a prison moratorium bill which, if passed, will stave off plans of investing $50 million into a new womens prison for five years.

The possible new womens prison in Norfolk would replace a collapsing womens prison at MCI-Framingham. However, a new prison would substantially decrease inmates chances of being released on clemency. Many of the 158 female inmates in the Framingham prison have served for years or decades, are elderly, have serious health complications and would be very unlikely to pose a public threat.

State Rep. Chynah Tyler and Senator Joanne Comerford filed bills in theHouseandSenatein March 2021, urging that the passing of a prison moratorium bill is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public safety and health.

Despite the bitter windchill, a collective voice rang clear Monday afternoon: We dont want a coat of pink paint!

The chant responds to the DOCs claim that the new prison will be trauma-informed. They promise therapeutic and cozy areas for visitation with families.

What they dont understand, said Fiona Hoffer, a canvasser for thePeople Not PrisonsCoalition, is that trauma-informed prisons dont exist.

As someone in recovery, who has seen many loved ones overdose, Hoffer has grown increasingly passionate about abolition. Its become really clear to me, she said, that criminalization of social problems does not make for healthier and stronger communities it only creates further problems.

Currently, there is a plan for Mass. to spend $520 million over the next 10 years on prisons and jails as a whole. But many are asking: for what?

With a much smaller budget, Sashi James, organizer ofthe National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and GirlsandFamilies for Justice as Healing, is doing much more.

Were impacting peoples lives for the better, she said. Were reconnecting families and helping them grow and thrive and get to a space of healing.

What makes it personal for James is that growing up, both her parents went to prison for a period of time. Im a daughter of incarcerated parents, she said, and I also live in the most incarcerated corridor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which is Roxbury from Nubian Square to Franklin Park.

Her mother, Andrea James, is a former criminal defense attorney who was incarcerated for close to two years. Struck at the utter lack of resources these women had upon release, James founded the National Council and the Families for Justice group and has dedicated her life to serving in both.

Now, Sashi James said, were doing all kinds of exciting things. The Families for Justice group is able to fund five women with mutual aid monthly stipends. That way, when they are released from prison, they have somewhere to go, some savings, a support group.

Tiffany Wang and Tiba Fatli are Northeastern School of Law students who attended Mondays gathering. Speaking on behalf of herself and Fatli, Wang said, These orgs here are doing amazing work. Both of us are new to the city more or less, we came here for school, and we feel like we want to get connected with the on-the-ground communities doing the real work. We want to support them.

Families for Justice as Healing has successfully halted the construction of the new prison twice before and remains hopeful about where the House version of the bill is at, as well.

What we know is that if they build a new womens prison, its going to be incarcerating the grandchildren of people who are currently there, said Hoffer. It is going to just continue these cycles of inequality, and we need better. We need investments in things that truly make communities healthy, and thats not what prisons do.

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'Our hearts are broken' groups gather at the State House to push prison moratorium bill - The Scope

A Labour councillor has announced he is to stand down ahead of this year's local election after a decade in office.

Derek Bibby was elected to represent Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Lochwinnoch and Howwood back in 2012 and says it has been an "honour" to help residents and give them a voice in the chamber.

But the 71-year-old - who has devoted his life to public service - insists the time has come to step aside and encourage others to enter the world of local government.

Before becoming an elected member, Derek worked for Strathclyde Regional, Glasgow City and Renfrewshire councils as a social work manager for more than 30 years.

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"It has been a privilege to have represented Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Howwood and Lochwinnoch over the last decade and I have always recognised the profound responsibility and honour it is to do so," said the dad-of-two, who has lived in Kilbarchan with his wife Susan for almost 40 years.

"I am immensely grateful to both members of the Labour Party and the people of Renfrewshire who have put their trust in me to represent them and I hope that I have repaid that trust.

"I believe now is the time to step down and encourage others to step forward.

"Politics and my career in social work were about helping people every day. Whether it be a housing, education or environmental issue, I have always tried my utmost to help people with their problems and back up those people who need a voice on their side in the council."

During his time as a councillor, Derek served as deputy convener of social work when Labour was in administration between 2012 and 2017. He helped to open two new residential units for children in care and two-day centres for adults with learning disabilities.

He was also deputy convener of finance between 2016 and 2017 and served as deputy leader of the Labour group for much of the current SNP administration.

As he prepares to step away from Renfrewshire House, he said he hopes to see a major change in local government funding which he thinks needs to happen to help councils support people through a looming cost-of-living crisis.

Derek, who is dad to Labour MSP Neil Bibby, added: "I am proud to have been part of the Labour administration that was the first to advocate the abolition of the bedroom tax and delivered an anti-poverty strategy which gave more than 3million to our most deprived communities.

"I have particularly enjoyed debating in the council chamber. Whilst I have often disagreed with members of other parties I have always taken the view that democracy is healthy if one respects the right to express alternative views.

"The people of Renfrewshire face much uncertainty as they struggle with the current cost-of-living crisis. Councils have a key part to play in protecting people. The fact that year-on-year council budgets have been cut makes a difficult task even harder. This has to change."

Renfrewshire Labour group leader Eddie Devine said: "Derek has been a very good councillor for his ward and he's been particularly good working with young people as that's what he did before he was a councillor.

"He is well thought of in his ward as he's always very attentive and does his job. He will be missed by the group."

Download the FREE Renfrewshire Live app now for all the latest news, features and sport in your area. Available on both Android and Apple. Download here:smarturl.it/RenfrewLiveSocial

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Labour councillor set to quit after ten years serving Johnstone and surrounding villages - Daily Record

A Socialist Equality Party (Australia) public meeting, called in support of a statewide strike by New South Wales nurses this Tuesday, provoked a lively discussion on the political issues confronting health workers and the working class as a whole.

These ranged from the role of the unions in enforcing the dire conditions in hospitals, to the need for independent rank-and-file committees to organise a genuine industrial and political fightback, and what the pandemic and the criminal official response to it have revealed of the bankruptcy of capitalism itself.

More than one hundred people participated in the Saturday meeting, representing doctors, nurses, aged care and disability workers, and other sections of the working class across Australia and internationally. It can be watched in full below.

Chairing the meeting, SEP Assistant National Secretary Max Boddy placed the strike in the context of the massive Omicron surge that has swept across Australia as a result of the official let it rip policies. More than 2,300 deaths have been recorded this year.

The first report was delivered by Katy Kinner, a US health worker, writer for the WSWS and member of a rank-and-file committee at the Kaiser Permanente healthcare conglomerate in Southern California.

Katy explained that the struggle of healthcare workers in NSW is identical to the struggle of healthcare workers around the world. All of the issues confronting workers, from chronic staffing shortages, to underfunding of the public system, excessive hours and the dismantling of infection controls, were the same.

The second speaker, Jess, an Enrolled Nurse in a major hospital in south-western Sydney outlined the dire conditions that had provoked the strike.

She explained that the ward she works on is a general surgical unit catering for pre- and post-operative patients. However, she said, Now we are taking on patients who are COVID-positive, but who have come into the hospital for health reasons under our speciality scope. This is a recipe for spreading the virus to other patients.

Jess explained that minimal staffing ratios had never been adhered to, even prior to the pandemic. But now, long hours, a lack of support from management and minimum nurse-to-patient ratios not being met is severely damaging patient outcomes, as well as nurses mental health. Senior nurses, new grads and junior nurses leave the industry as they cannot manage.

The final speaker, SEP National Secretary Cheryl Crisp, detailed who was responsible for this state of affairs. It was the outcome of decades-long funding cuts implemented by state and federal governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, and their turn to herd immunity pandemic policies based on a rejection of all public health measures that would impede production and the capitalist economy.

The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) has fully backed these profit-driven policies. It had suppressed any action by nurses since 2013, when nurses struck over the same issues they face now. The union only called Tuesdays stoppage because of the explosive anger of nurses, but it was doing everything possible to keep the action as isolated and limited as it could.

Crisp explained that the global surge of the pandemic and the abandonment of mitigation measures by governments everywhere pointed to the burning need for workers to build a socialist movement directed at the abolition of capitalism. This would need to be waged in opposition to the unions, and their promotion of the lies that big business parties such as Labor and the Greens are a lesser-evil.

The establishment of health workers rank-and-file committees was crucial to broadening the strike, breaking the union isolation operation and preparing a broader mobilisation of the working class.

As the speakers were delivering their reports, dozens of comments were posted in the chat, several of them outlining the situation health and other workers confront.

One wrote that they support the nurses strike and hopefully action in aged care will happen soon. A pay rise would be good! I get $24 an hour and I work one day a week at my old job in retail. Its ladies fashion and I get $5 an hr more than from the aged care. No wonder everyone is leaving!!! No one will be left in a few years to look after the growing aged population. Everyone is tired.

Another posted: All staff and visitors to the hospital I work at are given surgical masks. The only N95s are used by staff in Surgical wards. I have to buy my own supply of N95s to wear to work. They added: Most nurses are casually employed, many older nurses (formally retired) have been asked to come back in to work to meet demand and there are always short-staffed wards. The hospital had to shut one ward completely due to lack of staff.

Critical questions were posed about the role of the unions. A nurse suggested that the NSWNMA was hamstrung by a lack of action from its members and other health workers.

In response, Crisp and other leading SEP members reviewed the development of the trade unions. They had always defended capitalism and its nation-state system. In an earlier period, they fulfilled this function by securing limited concessions from nationally-based employers and governments.

With the globalisation of production, this perspective was no longer viable, and the unions transformed themselves into an industrial and political police force of big business. They had implemented the demands of finance capital for four decades and the privileged bureaucracy had accrued substantial wealth in the process.

A key turning point came in the late 1980s when the unions joined hands with the Hawke and Keating Labor governments and the corporations to enforce sweeping economic deregulation, mass job cuts and privatisation.

Crisp again emphasised the political issues, raising that this agenda was to be deepened amid the current crisis of capitalism which was also threatening war and dictatorship.

Addressing questions about the way forward for health workers, Katy relayed crucial experiences in the US. The unions there had also sought to block any struggle. Last October, for instance, 30,000 health workers at Kaiser Permanente in California voted by 96 percent for strike action. Less than 24 hours before the strike, a tentative agreement was worked out between the hospital and the union which did nothing to improve staffing levels and contained real wage-cuts. The strike was called off.

In opposition to the union, the WSWS and workers such as Katy had initiated an independent rank-and-file committee. It published continuous exposures of the machinations of the unions, gave voice to the sentiments and experiences of frontline workers, and provided them with a perspective for unifying with far broader sections of the working class. As many people noted in the comments section, nurses in NSW and across Australia needed to take the same step.

The point was reinforced by a member of the Committee for Public Education (CFPE), a rank-and-file teachers group initiated by the SEP in Australia. The CFPE member brought greetings to the nurses and expressed support for their fight. She emphasised the need for a unified struggle by health workers and educators who are being herded into unsafe classrooms and universities by the very same governments responsible for the nurses dire conditions.

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SEP (Australia) meeting on NSW nurses strike provokes lively discussion on role of unions, fight against pandemic - WSWS

Just a few weeks ago marked perhaps the most shameful anniversary our country passes every year the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Its hard to believe its been nearly 50 years since this national disgrace was imposed on the American people. To put that timeframe in perspective, over half of all Americans werent even alive in 1973 when seven Supreme Court justices magically found a right to infanticide in the Constitution almost 200 years after it was written. Weve been through 10 presidents since then and over a thousand members of Congress. There isnt one of the Supreme Court justices who decided Roe v. Wade still on the court. In fact, not one of them is still alive.

Its both shocking and profoundly sad that as a country weve endured 50 years of the legalized murder of these children. Its our countrys great sin of the past half century. It is incompatible in so many ways with who we are as a country and the values we honor as a people. Even the words of the Declaration of Independence are an indictment of abortion: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

In that time, there have been over 62 million abortions performed, according to National Right to Life. That number is unfathomable. Thats 62 million children denied life; 62 million children who will never run and play with other children; 62 million children who will never have children and grandchildren of their own. Its almost the entire population of France. Imagine that the population of an entire country wiped off the face of the Earth. If that were to happen, it would be unacceptable to the entire world. There would be calls to do everything in our power to prevent it. We would mobilize all our resources into saving those peoples lives. But with abortion, much of our country goes on either oblivious to what is happening, or are aware, but are indifferent to it. Some of those people think this is a political debate. Its not. Its about human dignity. Its about defending those who dont have a voice.

Its time past time to do something about this. Its time to end abortion in this country. Its time to regain our identity as a moral people, a people that value and protect life, and a people who view children as what they are a gift from God. This is the year to make abolition of abortion a reality. Every state should pass as many pro-life bills as possible like Senate Bill 699 the Abolition of Abortion in Missouri Act or my own bill, Senate Bill 778, which is modeled after the pro-life bill Texas passed last year that has already been upheld by various courts and is saving the lives of countless children. This could also be the year the U.S. Supreme Court finally overturns Roe v. Wade. The court should ignore all the intellectual elitists and the mainstream media and do its constitutional duty: uphold the law and overturn Roe.

My position has been and always will be on the side of life. Our government was formed to protect our God-given rights, and the first right listed in the Declaration of Independence was life. Its our responsibility, all of us, to fight for these children to fight with every fiber of our being to end abortion and restore our country to one that is moral, just and God-fearing.

Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Dont excuse yourself by saying, Look, we didnt know. For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve. Proverbs 24:11-12

If you have any ideas, questions and concern, please feel free to contact me at the State Capitol: (573) 751-2108, rick.brattin@senate.mo.gov or by writing to Sen. Rick Brattin, Missouri State Capitol, Room 331, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

God bless and thank you for the opportunity to work for you in the Missouri Senate.

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Sen. Rick Brattin's Capitol Report for the Week of Feb. 7: It's Time to End Abortion Missouri Senate - Missouri Senate

From left: Sweater ($1,590), trousers ($1,390), and slippers ($990) by the Row. // Sweater ($4,850) and shorts ($6,500) by Hermes; shoes ($325) by Blackstock & Weber; socks ($10) by Stance.

Jennifer Livingston

Its an early winter evening in Manhattan, and Kendrick Sampson and I are settling into a quiet if antiseptic corner of the James hotel lobby. Despite working on a single hour of sleep, Sampson, thirty-three, manages to look warm and cheerful in a pair of black sweats and a gray mask. Then just as weve dispensed with the small talk and are on the verge of getting to the good stuff, a white woman in a silver dress begins setting up shop not twenty feet from us. A lounge singer! She turns the volume up to eleven and warbles that a scrub is a guy that cant get no love from me.

Blessedly, when Sampson talks, its impossible not to listen.

You may know him from How to Get Away with Murder or The Vampire Diaries or, most recently, as the perpetually-trying-to-improve-himself Nathan on Insecure. Maybe youve heard about BLD PWR, an organization centered on abolition and mental wellness he cofounded that wants to train a new generation of entertainers and athletes to liberate communities from police violence, racism, structural inequality, the oppression of sexism, transphobia, capitalist violence, and the places where those intersect. Even if none of this rings a bell, you probably remember when, in 2020, cops shot him seven times with rubber bullets at a protest over the police killing of George Floyd.

Jennifer Livingston

When I mentioned to a full-time-activist friend who lives in L.A., like Sampson, that I was meeting with him, she was impressed and told me she had trouble recalling any action against police violence in the summer of 2020 where she hadnt seen Sampson. Hes a guy who puts both his money and his body where his mouth is. Sampson speaks with ease and acuity about exploitation and justicenot to mention his own role in that of Hollywood, which he calls Americas biggest propaganda machine. He says his mind works in systems. Its hard to overstate how nuanced his thinking is about liberation and what we owe one another.

This article appeared in the March 2022 issue of Esquiresubscribe

An example: Look around your community, he tells me, and ask, Who are the vulnerable? Lets start safety plans that center them. Recognize that often the cops are the ones out here snatching and grabbing. That sometimes the most vulnerable people are cops targets. He holds my recording device up, wanting to be sure Im getting all this over strains of Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly: Whoever that most vulnerable person is. Just take a second every day and imagine what that world that supports that person really looks like.

You know how sometimes people with a seriousness of purpose can be, to put this delicately, sort of a bad hang? That is not Kendrick Sampson. He regularly has a group of folks over for spades and once chased a bunch of his friends around a Dennys late at night. These are union leaders, professors. Serious people. And we act a damn fool, he says. We do a lil butt shakin, smoke a little weed, and we have a good time....I think laughs and joy is essential to the revolution.

Jennifer Livingston

It will come as no surprise that Sampson is no great fan of capitalism or its slickest trick: convincing us that our purpose and our passion are indistinct. Our profit is our purpose is what capitalism boils down to, he says. He worries people mistake their passion for their purpose. You could be extremely excited, passionate about the piano. But I would really be disappointed if at the end of my life, I found out my purpose was a piano. All of this, he says, makes kicking back impossible. So sometimes, Sampson says while leaning back, smiling brightly, liberation is me leaning back on this couch and feeling great.

Its The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel now. Sampson knows every word. Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go, looking for the places only they would know. This is actually a really beautiful song, he says.

Jennifer Livingston

An interruption. Its the singer! Im so fucking sorry, she says, but I just want to tell you, I love your work.

Oh, oh, awesome, he says. I thought you heard me because I was like, This is such a dope song. She shuffles back to her post, radiant, before launching into Munas I Know a Place. Sampson, noticing the time, says good-naturedly, Let me get the fuck out of here. Weve been here twice as long as either of us intended. As he makes his way out of the lobby, the singer reminds us that maybe our purpose is to never give up when were on the right track.

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Kendrick Sampson Interview: On the Power of Joy - Esquire